Penn. train derailment leaks thousands of gallons of oil, sends car into building

A 120-car train making its way across Pennsylvania derailed Thursday morning, spilling thousands of gallons of oil and alarming observers who have called for stricter safety standards on trains hauling hazardous material.

The train is owned by the New Jersey-based Norfolk Southern Corp
-- company officials told Reuters that 21 tank cars went off the
tracks at a turn near the Kiskiminetas River in Vandergrift, a
small town in western Pennsylvania.

Nineteen of the cars contained crude oil while the other two held
liquefied petroleum gas. Three of the 19 cars spilled as a result
of the crash. Company officials maintained that the leaks were
plugged but refused to say how many gallons of oil had spilled.
Sources told the local WTAE-TV that an estimated 3,000 to 4,000
gallons had escaped the tanks.

“It's contained,” said Norfolk Southern spokesman Dan
Stevens. “The hazmat crews for the railroad are on site and
will be taking care of that situation.”

No one was injured in the accident. The Department of
Environmental Protection sent a 3-member emergency response team
to aid in the clean-up.

“It did not get into any streams or creeks,” said DEP
spokesman John Poister.

Residents said the derailment was tremendous enough to shake
buildings and could be heard throughout the surrounding area. One
of the loose cars slammed into a business, destroying equipment
that is used to mill steel blocks.

“I heard a strange noise, a hollow, screeching sound,”
witness Ray Cochran, whose home oversees the railroad tracks,
told Reuters. “I looked out the window and saw three or four
tankers turn over and one of them ran into the building.”

This accident comes less than two months after another large
freight train derailed in North Dakota. While no one was hurt in
that event, the derailed cars did leak oil which triggered a
series of explosions that sent flames as high as 100 feet into
the air. The city of Casselton, North Dakota had to be evacuated
as the blasts shook the surrounding area.

A recent report from the Pipeline and Hazardous Material Safety
Administration detailed just how serious the problem has become.
Researchers found that, in the years spanning 1975 to 2010,
800,000 gallons of oil spilled from railroad tankers. Yet 2013
alone saw over 1.15 million gallons of crude oil leak from trains
and into the environment.

What has caused the surge in accidents is unknown, yet activists
and lawmakers alike have called for change in order to stop such
events before an entire town is devastated.

“Anyone who saw the video of that crash saw the fire that
came out and the explosion,” North Dakota governor Jack
Dalrymple said in December after the Casselton explosion.
“That visual leaves an impression on anybody, including oil
producers. We do need some kind of provisional standard for the
next year.”

Still, officials in Pennsylvania are thankful the crash did not
happen in East Vandergrift, where many more people live.

“The fortunate thing is it's happened within two hills where
it's contained,” Norfolk spokesman Dan Stevens told
reporters. “The only car that went anywhere went into the
building. If it had to happen, this is one of the better places
for it to happen.”